Theresa Vail

Theresa Vail
Born Theresa Marie Vail
(1990-10-01) October 1, 1990
Manhattan, Kansas, United States
Nationality American
Education Leavenworth High School
Kansas State University
Known for First contestant to display tattoos in the Miss America pageant
Home town Manhattan, Kansas, United States
Title "America's Choice" and Top 10, Miss America 2014
Miss Kansas 2013
Miss Leavenworth County 2013
Religion Christianity

Military career

Allegiance  United States of America
Service/branch  United States Army
Years of service 2007–present
Rank Sergeant

Theresa Vail (born October 1, 1990)[1] is an American media personality who is the host of the Outdoor Channel hunting show Limitless with Theresa Vail.[2] Vail was Miss Kansas 2013 and participated in the Miss America 2014 pageant. She became the first contestant to openly display tattoos (during the swimsuit competition), won the "America's Choice" award, and placed in the top ten of the Miss America pageant. She is a mechanic and section leader in the Kansas Army National Guard Medical Detachment.[3]

Early Life

Vail graduated in 2009 from Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth, Kansas.[4] She began her education at Kansas State University, completing all but her final year there as a double major in Chemistry and Chinese.[1][4][5][6] She is currently a Psychology major at American Military University.[7] When she was 19 and the only female mechanic in a military motor pool, she experienced verbal sexual harassment and "inappropriate comments" from co-workers.[8] She spoke out against it and later began to speak about the issue when Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli (the adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard) asked her to give public service announcements about it.[8]

Miss Kansas 2013 and Miss America 2014

Theresa Vail, Miss Kansas, waves as other contestants look on at the Miss America 2014 pageant.

Vail competed in the Miss Leavenworth County Pageant in 2012.[9][10] As Vail is an athlete who specializes in archery, marksmanship, skydiving, and boxing,[5] she had assumed that her talent would be archery. A few days before preparing to compete as Miss Leavenworth County, however, she found out that "projectile objects were forbidden" and that she had to choose a new talent or drop out of the competition.[4][5] Vail then searched on YouTube for something to sing[4] and chose the aria, Nessun Dorma. Vail learned the piece in 48 hours though she later stated that she had "never sung opera in my life [...] I had an appreciation for it [...] and I sang soprano in choir back in high school, but I hadn't sung since then and certainly never opera."[5] After winning Miss Leavenworth County, she became Miss Kansas on June 8, 2013.[4]

She next competed (as Miss Kansas) in the Miss America 2014 contest with the platform, "Empowering Women: Overcoming Stereotypes and Breaking Barriers." [1][6] This platform was inspired by the way that outdoor sports with her father helped her to overcome being bullied as a child: "I was bullied when I was a kid. It got so bad that I nearly took my own life ... My dad [an Army dentist stationed in Germany] took me hunting with him and it saved my life."[5][11] Vail stated that her primary goal at the Miss America pageant was to set an example, stating in a Twitter message: "Win or not tonight, I have accomplished what I set out to do. I have empowered women. I have opened eyes.”[12][13] She further commented that her real goal was to break stereotypes.[5]

The pageant began with her win of the "America's Choice," award, which automatically placed her as one of the 15 semifinalists.[8][14] Next, Vail passed the swimsuit competition, in which she became the first Miss America contestant to openly display tattoos, in her case the insignia of the United States Army Dental Command on her left shoulder and one of the Serenity Prayer along the right side of her torso.[5][15][16][17] She then placed into the Top 10, after passing the evening gown portion of the contest.[18]

Vail, however, was eliminated from the pageant after the talent portion (in which she performed her aria, Nessun Dorma), and thus did not make it into the Top 5.[18] Both Kansas Journalist Diana Reese (in The Washington Post) and Lisa Gutierrez (in The Wichita Eagle ) focused on the fact that Vail did not formally train over a period of years to be an Opera singer as the reason why she was not chosen for the Top 5. Reese stated that she didn't attribute the loss to the tattoos but rather to Vail's decision to "teach herself an operatic aria in a matter of days by watching YouTube videos," as well as choosing a work which "should be sung by someone with more training."[19] Gutierrez concured stating: "You can’t be Miss America if you learn how to sing opera from YouTube."[20]

Though she did not win the Miss America crown, Vail said that she enjoyed the experience.[4] In an interview given the day after the Miss America contest, she also stated that during the pageant, she became good friends with the winner, Miss New York Nina Davuluri, and felt "very confident in her ability to do the job."[14] Despite this fact, there was a backlash of xenophobic and racist comments in social media against Davuluri shortly after she was crowned Miss America 2014 that involved images of Vail.[21][22][23][24] Vail denounced this response on her blog[25][26][27] and later condemned the social media response in a few interviews.[8][11]

After the Miss America pageant, Vail continued to serve as Miss Kansas 2013 until June 8, 2014.[28]

Illegal hunting charges

Vail was cited by Alaska State Troopers after wounding a male grizzly on May 26, 2015, near Holy Cross, Alaska in a filmed hunt, then also killing a sow while finishing off the first bear. She was also charged with a second misdemeanor, fabricating paperwork to cover up the illegal second kill, as were her licensed guides.[29] At a change of plea hearing on 1/6/16 in Aniak, Alaska, Vail, who is sponsored by the N.R.A., pleaded guilty, agreed to testify against her Alaskan guides, and was fined and sentenced to a year's probation.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Miss Kansas 2013 Theresa Vail". Miss Kansas. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Limitless with Theresa Vail". Outdoor Channel.
  3. ↑ Lilley, Kevin (April 25, 2014). "After beauty-queen spotlight, soldier to host TV hunting show". The Army Times.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Richmeier. "Leavenworth High grad enjoys Miss America experience". Leavenworth Times. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Miss America's Sgt. Theresa Vail Is First Contestant to Expose Tattoos". People Magazine. September 10, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Miss America: Miss Kansas 2013 Theresa Vail". Miss America Organization. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  7. ↑ "American Military University". AMU Official Facebook Page. June 12, 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Gould, Joe (September 30, 2013). "Miss Kansas: 'Raise hell' about sexual harassment". Army Times.
  9. ↑ Jacqueline Urgo (September 13, 2013). "Combat boots, tattoos, and a Miss Kansas pageant sash". Philly.com.
  10. ↑ PHOTO Miss Kansas Theresa Vail’s tattoo from Miss America swimsuit prelims
  11. 1 2 Brady, Dani (September 29, 2013). "The story behind the crown: an interview with Miss Kansas 2013". University Daily Kansan.
  12. ↑ AP (September 19, 2013). "First Indian-origin woman crowned Miss America". The Hindu.
  13. ↑ Vail, Theresa (September 15, 2013). "Theresa Vail's twitter account". Twitter.
  14. 1 2 "Supporters Welcome Back Miss Kansas". KAKE Channel 10. September 16, 2013.
  15. ↑ Vail, Theresa (August 22, 2013). "God, Grant Me the Courage to Change the Things I Can". Miss Kansas Blog.
  16. ↑ Gould, Joe (September 12, 2013). "Tattooed Kan. Guard sergeant is Miss America contestant". Army Times.
  17. ↑ Linton, Caroline (September 14, 2013). "Miss Kansas Bares Her Tattoos". The Daily Beast.
  18. 1 2 "Miss America Crowns 2014 Winner". USA Today. September 17, 2013.
  19. ↑ Diana Reese (September 16, 2013). "Miss America pageant evolves to include all kinds of diversity". The Washington Post.
  20. ↑ LISA GUTIERREZ (September 16, 2013). "How Miss Kansas blew the Miss America crown: She sang". The Wichita Eagle.
  21. ↑ Hafiz, Yasmine (September 16, 2013). "Nina Davuluri's Miss America 2014 Win Prompts Twitter Backlash Against Indians, Muslims". Huffington Post.
  22. ↑ "Is Bollywood the New Zumba?". ELLE. September 26, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  23. ↑ Ryan Broderick (September 16, 2013). "A Lot Of People Are Very Upset That An Indian-American Woman Won The Miss America Pageant". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  24. ↑ ALEXANDER ABAD-SANTOS (September 16, 2013). "The First Indian-American Miss America Has Racists Very, Very Confused". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  25. ↑ Sastry, Keertana (September 14, 2014). "The 2014 Miss America Winner Stirred Controversy, But the Ugliness had nothing to do with Nina Davuluri". Bustle.
  26. ↑ Vail, Theresa (September 2013). "Theresa's September Blog". Miss Kansas.
  27. ↑ Antoun, Naira (2013-09-19). "Miss Outdoor Girl: Miss America". Theresa Vail's Blog: Miss Outdoor Girl. Retrieved 2015-07-27.
  28. ↑ "Miss Greater Wichita wins Miss Kansas competition". KWCH-DT. June 8, 2014.
  29. ↑ Troopers: Outdoor Channel star helped cover up illegal Alaska bear kill, Alaska Dispatch News, Chris Klint, December 7, 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  30. ↑ Reality T.V. host pleads guilty to killing brown bear without proper permit, Alaska Dispatch News, Lisa Demer, January 6, 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Theresa Vail.


Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Sloane Lewis		 Miss Kansas
2013 		Succeeded by
Amanda Sasek
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